Story : When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team - led by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

if the synopsis sounds like a typical bombastic sci-fi blockbuster, prepare to be pleasantly surprised. Armed with an outstanding screenplay by Eric Heisserer, and based on a short story by Ted Chiang titled ‘Story of Your Life', director Denis Villeneuve creates an atmosphere of global dread with barely an explosion. The strength of Chiang’s story is so powerful that Villeneuve could probably replace the lead actors with most other Hollywood A-listers and still have the same impact.

Not to detract from Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner though. Both deliver skilfully measured performances and Adams showcases a poignant range that provides the emotional backbone to the plot. Forest Whitaker however, is relegated to the generic army colonel tasked with figuring the objective of the aliens’ presence. He approaches Dr. Banks who previously helped him translate communication between insurgents. Along with Ian Donnelly, they approach one of the spaceships to contact the alien beings and establish a form of dialogue with them. Their interactions with the alien creatures are interspersed with flashes of Dr. Banks’ relationship with her daughter, which initially appear to be haphazard and irrelevant. But there’s an underlying connection between the intimacies of her life and the threat posed by a world at the brink of war, fearing hostile intent from the otherworldly visitors.